Earlier this afternoon, I saw what I believe was a juv Thayer's Gull in parking Field 2, RMSP, Suffolk, LI.
I had been photographing a juv Lesser Black-backed Gull, when additional juvs of that species and American Herring Gull began dropping into the lot. One of the birds that came in was similar to the juv LBBGs in having an all-black bill, being in full juv plumage, and having the dark tones of the upperparts feathers colder in tone than those of Am. Herring, but it was bigger and paler than than a juv LBBG while at the same time smaller and smaller-billed than an Am. Herring. The primaries appeared a little paler than those of same-aged Herrings and were distinctly edged with whitish, and the undersides of the primaries appeared largely pale. The tertials were solidly dark-centered but with more extensive pale patterning along the edges than in LBBG. The rump was whitish with dark barring. The tail appeared solidly dark but slightly less blackish than in Herring. While I was trying to raise a couple of local birders on the phone, the bird flew over to the ocean. I was able to confirm impressions of tail, rump, and underwing described above, but not much more during these few seconds, as I dropped the phone and scrambled to raise my binoculars. I walked the beach as far west as the golf course gazebo, again tallying six juv LBBGs, but I could not re-find the Thayer's. When I returned to my car, an adult LBBG had dropped in, but still no sign of the focal bird. Given that this is not only a very difficult identification challenge, that Thayer's Gull is strikingly rare on Long Island, that 19 October is remarkably early for a juv at this latitude, and that the bird was not available for viewing, I thought it prudent to get Tom Johnson's opinion before I posted to the list. He thought the photos at the end of this album looked good: https://picasaweb.google.com/109808209543611018404/LongIsland2012 Shai Mitra Bay Shore ________________________________ Washington Monthly<http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/septemberoctober_2012/features/americas_bestbangforthebuck_co039461.php> magazine ranks the College of Staten Island as one of "America's Best-Bang-for-the-Buck Colleges" -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
